Thursday, January 28, 2010

Julie Newmar

Of all the actresses who have played Catwoman on TV or in the movies, in my less than humble opinion, only Julie Newmar really captured the feline qualities that make a certain type of woman seem like slinky ocelots. She had the same lynx like quality that Simone Simon brought to the original Cat People (1942). She was a natural blond who went brunette for the role. Julie Newmar showed up early in her career (under her real name Julie Newmeyer) in William Castle's Slaves Of Babylon doing a harem dance (bottom clip), but her real screen debut was in Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, she's the highlight of an otherwise dull movie. She had cameos in all sorts of TV shows including Twilight Zone (in the 1963 episode Of Late I Think Of Cliffordville in which she plays a she-devil), F Troop, The Beverly Hillbillies, Route 66, The Monkees, Star Trek, Columbo, and Get Smart. She also shows up in Elvis' King Creole (1958, uncredited), Lil' Abner (1959, playing Stupefyin' Jones), Rowan and Martin's semi-retarded vehicle The Maltese Bippy (1969), Streetwalkin' (1985), and loads of TV movies, not to mention being interviewed for the fairly watchable documentary King B: A Life In The Movies. She grew up in L.A. and began her career as an "artists model", and posed nude in several 50's pin up mags, none of which I can find at the moment, but I know I have a few in the basement somewhere. Judging by the change in her appearance over the years it looks as if she had a nose job in the early 60's. Meow.

12 comments:

fred said...

Thanks! Reminded me to download McKenna's Gold!

The Hound said...

" McKenna's Gold"

Great cast in that one: Edward G. Robinson, Eli Wallach, Ted "Lurch" Cassidy, Telly "Kojack" Savalas, Gregory Peck, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond "Ironside" Massey, Burgess Meredith, Omar Sharif, and Julie!
Directed by J. Lee Thompson of Cape Fear and Eye Of The Devil fame, totally forgot about that one. Haven't seen it since I was a little kid.

Donna Lethal said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Donna Lethal said...

Julie's still fab and did really well for herself, unlike alot of other starlets. She owns real estate around LA (including the now-closed "Eat-A-Pita" on Fairfax) and had the misfortune to be needled by her nasty neighbor, Jim Belushi. I was working on a lousy tabloid show at the time and we sent a handsome young reporter to her house to cover the story. "Oh, if you were only a little older," she purred at him.

I met her about two years ago at a "Smithsonian Salute" something or other. I thanked her for being an inspiration to a little redheaded kid. She looked amazing. The guy next to me had a "Lil Abner" soundtrack and had her sign it as "Stupefyin' Jones."

Mike Crowley said...

Thanks Hound - Julie Newmar's Catwoman taught me a whole lot as a 10 year old watching Batman reruns after school.

I have to believe the general show Batman rates pretty high with you as well? (Chad & Jeremy's best song out of an admittedly weak discography performed on the show, The Penguin's Gotham City Mayor campaign supported by Paul Revere & The Raiders, Johnny Green & The Greenman performing on the surfing episode, Adam West performing the Bat Dance?)

Anonymous said...

Back when she was married to a Fort Worth oilman,Julie Newmar walked up to me at an art opening at SMU. I remember this really tall beauty with flowing hair towering over me. She asked me where I bought my Hawaiian shirt. When I said K-Mart, her reply was "Shit, they don't have enough class for that shirt." I was too dumbstruck for a witty reply.

Anonymous said...

No offense intended, but, Raymond Burr (unhetrosexual Perry Mason) was "Ironside"...Didn't Raymond Massey play the senior Dr "Dr Kildare"?

The Hound said...

", Raymond Burr (unhetrosexual Perry Mason) was "Ironside"...Didn't Raymond Massey play the senior Dr "Dr Kildare"?"

Dough! yr right!, I think I'll leave the mistake in and see how many others notice it....

Devil Dick said...

meow...

Unknown said...

I thoroughly approve of all things Julie Newmar.

also noticed the Ironside thing right away, BTW.

great post, as always. thanx Hound!!

Eric said...

Love, love, love Julie Newmar. I wonder what she did in Star Trek? I always liked to think of her as one of the green pleasure women of Rigel 5....

The Hound said...

". I wonder what she did in Star Trek"

A pregnant princess in the episode Friday's Child.

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